Blackbird
by 5thHalliwell
Summary: Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau are finally more than friends. But what happens now? After all, the blackbird must take these broken wings and learn to fly, right? The second installment of the 'More Than Friends' trilogy. AU. Rated T for language and mature themes.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So this took so much longer than I anticipated, but it's finally here; the sequel to More Than Friends! This is meant to be read after More Than Friends, as previous events from that story will be coming back. Head on over to my page to read the first book now! As I always say, I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO CRIMINAL MINDS. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTFUL OWNERS. So, please read, review, and enjoy the first installment of Blackbird!

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"Hello beautiful" Emily said as she opened her front door to find J.J standing there, bags of takeout Chinese food in her hands. The women had been dating for just under a month, and Emily never got tired of seeing the blonde. She still couldn't believe that J.J was all hers.

"Hi Em" J.J said, her cheeks blushing at the compliment. She walked past her girlfriend and placed the paper bags on the island, setting her purse next to them. She was about to begin unpacking the bags when she felt two strong hands grip her waist.

"I think you misunderstood me Jen. I said, hello beautiful" Emily said, her voice much lower and more seductive this time. J.J felt her knees go weak from the brunette's tone, and she turned around, her arms wrapping around her girlfriend's neck.

"Hey babe" J.J said, smiling as she looked into the older woman's eyes. Emily returned her smile, leaning down and capturing the blonde's lips in her own.

The kiss was heated and passionate, the two not having had the chance to do so as they had been at Quantico all day. J.J had to fight to keep her knees from buckling from the contact she had been craving all day.

Eventually Emily pulled away, catching her breath. As she did so, she pulled the blonde flush against her front, J.J gasping at the sudden contact. Emily smirked at her girlfriend, pecking her on the cheek.

"That's much better" she said with a smile. J.J's cheeks flushed pink at the attention as Emily continued. "I missed you today beautiful." She said, laughing at the blonde's flushed cheeks.

"We were in that meeting all day…you saw me for like five hours straight" J.J said, pulling away from her girlfriend and starting to take the takeout out of the bags. Emily rolled her eyes, grabbing plates and utensils from the cupboards.

"I meant that I haven't gotten to see you alone" she told the blonde, pecking her on the cheek and grabbing the spring rolls. J.J smiled, filling her plate with food and following the older woman into the living room.

* * *

Sometime within the next hour the agents' food and movie had been abandoned in lieu of what both of them deemed to be a much more enjoyable activity. J.J was laying on the couch, Emily on top of her. Their mouths fought for dominance as the older woman's hands roamed over the younger one's body.

"God Em" J.J said as her girlfriend's lips moved from her mouth to her neck, sucking gently at her pulse point. The blonde's eyes rolled back into her head at the contact. Emily was doing things with her mouth that made her feel like she was on cloud nine.

"You're so sexy" Emily said, chuckling as she moved her lips back to her girlfriends', leaving behind a red mark on the blonde's neck that was going to be one hell of a hickey in the morning.

The women continued to make out for almost ten more minutes, until Emily decided to get more handsy, sliding a hand up under J.J's now untucked dark blue blouse. The blonde gasped at the skin to skin contact. She wanted the brunette to keep going, to keep touching her like this. But at the same time, she knew they had better stop soon, before she ended up doing something she wasn't ready for.

"Em..." J.J trailed off, attempting to remove her mouth from her girlfriend's quite unsuccessfully. The brunette just followed the blonde's movements, smiling at the younger woman. J.J reached down and grabbed Emily's hand, stopping it just before it reached the edge of her bra. "Emily...we need to stop" the blonde whispered. The older woman pulled back almost immediately, lifting her weight off the blonde and helping her sit up.

"I'm sorry...it's just that...I've never done anything like this before. I've never been with a woman like this...and I'm not ready to..." J.J attempted to explain, but couldn't seem to get the words out properly. The blonde suddenly looked shy and insecure, and it made Emily's heart hurt. How could the blonde think that she would be mad at her for not being ready?

"You don't have to say anymore. I get it. We'll take this as slow or as fast as you want" Emily explained quietly, holding onto the other woman's hand. J.J smiled sheepishly. "But will you lay here with me and cuddle?" the brunette asked, taking J.J's previous spot on the couch. "I promise to keep my hands to myself" she added as a last offer. The younger woman laughed and nodded, laying down between her girlfriend and the back of the couch and resting her head on the woman's shoulder. Emily wrapped her arms around the blonde, holding her tight.

J.J marveled at how safe and secure she felt when she was in Emily's embrace; it was like nothing in the world could harm her, so long as she had the brunette next to her. She lay basking in the glory of her lover's embrace until a thought popped into her mind, one that had been nagging at the back of her head since she had first agreed to go on a date with Emily.

"Hey Em?" she asked softly.

"Yeah Jayje?" the raven haired beauty asked her girlfriend, her eyes falling shut.

"I think we need to tell the team about this. About us." the blonde agent said quietly. Emily sighed, playing with the other woman's hair.

"I think you're right darling. Pen probably already knows though" she said, running her hand through J.J's golden locks.

"Well after the hickey you left on my neck, she'll certainly know about it" J.J said with a laugh. Emily smirked, looking down at the red mark on her girlfriend's neck.

"You do know there's this magical thing called makeup right? I've heard it can help hide things like hickeys" the brunette said sarcastically. J.J raised an eyebrow, looking up at her girlfriend.

"And where in God's name, Emily Prentiss, did you learn that trick?" the federal agent asked her girlfriend. Emily smiled.

"Just because my mother didn't approve of my life choices doesn't mean I stopped making out with girls in high school J.J. I was a lesbian; I wasn't dead" the raven haired woman said, rolling her eyes. J.J smiled at her girlfriend's statement.

"So tomorrow then?" she asked quietly a moment later.

"Tomorrow morning. We'll tell Hotch first...get the worst part out of the way" Emily confirmed. J.J felt a knot develop in the pit of her stomach.

"You don't think he would fire us, do you?" she asked nervously, lifting her head up off Emily's shoulder. Emily frowned.

"I don't think so Jen. People aren't exactly lining up for our jobs. Besides; the BAU are the ones that sent us on that undercover mission in the first place" the brunette said matter-of-factually. The blonde thought about it for a minute, then sighed.

"I guess you're right" J.J relented.

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right" Emily said with a smirk. The blonde rolled her eyes.

"Wow, always right and not in the least bit vain. Tell me, how did I get so lucky?" J.J said sarcastically.

"It must have been a fluke. I am quite the catch after all" Emily teased. The blonde scoffed.

"You keep telling yourself that Emily" J.J said, resting her head back down on her girlfriend's chest. Emily shut the TV off and settled down into the couch, her eyes falling shut. Just as she was about to fall asleep, her girlfriend's voice brought her out of her trance.

"Hey Em?" J.J asked quietly.

"Yes J.J?" Emily asked, fighting back a yawn.

"I love you" the blonde whispered with a smile. The older woman returned her smile, placing a kiss on the top of the blonde's head.

"I love you too Jennifer" she said softly, holding the other woman close as the two drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

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A/N: I most likely will not be posting an update for at least a week or two. I'm moving to Florida (I live in Canada now) in a week and things are about to get crazy. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review and let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I really should be waiting to post this (I've only written 4 chapters so far), but since I got** 75 follows **in only two days, I figured you guys deserve an update. Thank you all so much for the tremendous outpouring of love and support! You guys are seriously the best readers a writer could ask for. So please, read, review, and enjoy!

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The next morning J.J went through her daily routine in a trance. When she was in the shower, when she was straightening her hair, when she was getting dressed, and especially when she was attempting (and failing drastically) to hide the large hickey on her neck; all she could think about was what she was going to do when she got to work. She barely even touched the breakfast of eggs and bacon that Emily had made her, as her stomach was too nervous to ingest much.

"J.J, you've barely touched you're breakfast. Are you alright? Do you feel sick?" the brunette asked as she placed her own dish in the sink. J.J shrugged her shoulders.

"Not hungry" she said, pushing the eggs around her plant with a fork. Emily stood on the other side of the breakfast bar, right across from her girlfriend.

"Why?" she asked quietly. J.J continued to push the eggs around her plate, until she sighed. There was no point in hiding anything; her girlfriend would get it out of her sooner or later.

"I'm scared Em" she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she looked up into her girlfriend's eyes.

"About what darling? Testifying next week against Will? Cause the lawyer said that she'll go through everything with you..." Emily trailed off, realizing that she was rambling. J.J shook her head.

"No...I mean, yes, I'm nervous about that, but I'm more scared about what we have to do this morning" the younger woman confessed. Emily frowned.

"Honey, it's going to be okay. Hotch isn't going to fire us. And if he says we can't date and be on the same team, I'll put in for a transfer. I won't let anything jeopardize you or your job" Emily told the woman, holding the blonde's cold hands in her own.

"I can't let you do that Emily. We're equally responsible for this relationship, and so if it comes down to it, I'll put in for a transfer too." J.J said to her girlfriend, tears in the corners of her eyes. Would Emily really give up the most important thing in her life just to be with her?

"J.J, I don't care about my job nearly as much as I care about you. I want you to be happy. I'm not going to let you throw away your career for me." the raven haired beauty said firmly, looking into her girlfriend's bright blue eyes. Emily could still see the sadness behind them, and leaned in closer to the blonde. "But what is it that's really bothering you about this?"she asked softly. J.J let go of the other woman's hands, looking down at her lap.

"I've never...I've never dated another woman, or even had these kinds of feelings for a woman before. And so I've never...you know..." she attempted to explain, but gave up when she couldn't get the right words out. Emily had to fight the small chuckle that threatened to escape her mouth at seeing how shy and nervous her girlfriend had become. The smirk disappeared quickly, however, when she realized that she had gone through the same exact thing when she first came out.

"You're worried about coming out? Oh J.J, I'm so sorry...I wasn't thinking!" she said, suddenly full of remorse for not thinking about how hard coming out would be for J.J. "We don't have to do this if you're not ready too. We can keep it a secret for as long as you want" the brunette told her gently. J.J shook her head, tears sliding down her cheeks.

"No, we have to do it today." she said through her tears.

"Sweetheart, I understand if you don't want to do it. I forgot about how scary it is to come out for the first time. If you don't want to, we don't have to" the brunette told her girlfriend, walking around the breakfast bar and standing in front of the woman. J.J shook her head again, wiping away a tear.

"I...I want to, to come out. I do. I'm...I'm just scared" the younger woman confessed. Emily brushed the blonde's hair back out of her face.

"I know honey, I know. I get it. But it's going to be okay, alright? And if you want, I can do all the talking. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to" the brunette said, attempting to comfort her girlfriend. The blonde nodded as Emily pulled her into a hug, holding her tight. The women held on to each other for a few minutes, until Emily noticed the time on the stove.

"Doll, not that I don't absolutely love holding you like this...but if you want to make it to work on time we better finish getting ready" the raven haired woman told her girlfriend, pulling away. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, looking J.J in the eyes. The latter nodded, wiping away the rest of her tears.

"Yeah, I'll be okay." she said quietly. Emily smiled.

"Good" she said with an affirming nod, taking J.J's barely touched breakfast and dumping it into the trash. As she was placing the plate into the sink, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist, holding her tight.

"Thank you Emily" J.J whispered in her girlfriend's ear, placing a kiss on the brunette's cheek.

"No problem darling" Emily said with a smile as J.J let go. "Now go get ready, or we really are going to be late" the brunette said, tapping her girlfriend on the ass as she sauntered out of the room.

* * *

"You ready for this?" Emily asked almost an hour later as the two women sat in her SUV, attempting to build up the blonde's nerve.

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess" J.J said quietly. Emily smiled, reaching over and taking a hold of the younger woman's hand, weaving their fingers together.

"It'll be okay" she said gently. J.J nodded her agreement, not being able to bring herself to talk. With a deep breath, she pushed open the car door and stepped out into Quantico's parking garage. As she walked around the SUV to see her girlfriend, a familiar voice stopped her.

"Morning ladies" Rossi said from behind them. The two women turned around and smiled at the man, keeping their distance from one another.

"Morning Dave" J.J told the older man, smiling.

"Did you two enjoy your evening off?" he asked as he walked up next to them and joined them on their way to the door.

"Yeah, it wasn't too bad. Quiet, but nice" Emily told the man, seeing that her girlfriend was too nervous to speak. Rossi held open the door for the women as they walked in to the lobby.

"Good. Well, let's hope you can have another quiet evening tonight" the man told his coworkers as they all stepped into the elevator. J.J, who was too nervous to speak, just nodded her head, a faint blush creeping up her neck.

"Ha, I highly doubt that" Emily scoffed, rolling her eyes. Rossi let out a chuckle as he stepped out of the elevator.

"Well one can dream I guess...see you two later" the older man said to the ladies as he walked up the stairs to his office.

"Bye Rossi" J.J said, finally finding her voice.

"See you Dave" Emily said at the same time, turning around and walking to her desk. She placed her purse in the bottom drawer and locked it. When she stood up again, J.J was standing right behind her, and she had to fight back the scream that threatened to escape her throat.

"Dear Lord Jennifer. Don't sneak up on me like that!" the brunette exclaimed, placing a hand over her heart. The blonde frowned.

"Sorry, I thought you had heard me" she paused, looking around the bullpen. Emily and herself were the only members of the team that were there, save for Rossi, who was in his office next to Hotch's. "Can we go do it now? Before everyone else gets here?" J.J asked her girlfriend nervously. Emily smiled at the blonde woman, giving her hand a quick, reassuring squeeze.

"Of course Jen. I just want to make sure you're ready for this. Once you come out...well, you can't un-come out." the older woman checked one last time, her voice low. The blonde nodded.

"I know. I'm ready" J.J said firmly. Emily smiled again.

"Alright then. After you, my dear" the brunette said, letting the blonde walk up the stairs towards their boss' office before her. The two women paused for a moment outside the closed door, building up their courage. When Emily noticed that J.J made no effort to alert their boss of their presence, Emily knocked twice on the door.

"Come on in" Hotch's muffled voice called. With a final warm smile at her girlfriend, Emily walked in to the man's office, J.J following closely behind her.

"Good morning J.J, Prentiss. What can I do for you?" Hotch asked, looking up from the file that sat on the desk in front of him. Emily reached behind her girlfriend and firmly shut the door to the office, so no one would barge in during her potential resignation.

Hotch starred at the door quizzically. He had never had to speak to either of the women privately (excluding Emily's proclamation of her sexuality in the middle of the bullpen back in August), and he was growing concerned. Had something happened with Will? That was the only explanation he could come up with as to why they were both in his office with the door closed before eight in the morning.

"We need to tell you something, and I would really appreciate it if you would let me finish explaining before you speak...sir" Emily explained, adding the polite ending on as an after thought. Hotch nodded, leaning back in his chair and waiting for her to continue.

Emily glanced quickly over at her girlfriend and frowned. J.J had gone incredibly pale, and her hands shook ever so slightly in their place at her sides. The blonde looked like she was ready to pass out at any minute...that or throw up the small amount of breakfast she had actually eaten that morning. Neither of these were good options, and so the older woman reached over and took the cold, shaking hand in her own, giving it a supportive squeeze.

"Jennifer and I have been dating for about a month now. This is new ground for Jennifer, well, for both of us really, and that's why we decided to keep it a secret until now. We understand that the consequences that come with our relationship are big ones, and that the Bureau has a strict no dating policy...which is why I would like to formally submit my resignation, so long as you can promise me that Jennifer will still have a job in this unit" Emily announced. J.J and Hotch's mouths fell open at the woman's resignation.

Hotch just starred at the two women in front of him for a moment, trying to wrap his head around all of the information that he had just received. He wasn't that surprised that the two women were a couple; Garcia had seen that one coming a while ago. He was surprised, however, at the fact that Emily was willing to just resign. He knew that this job meant everything to her, and that she had worked incredibly hard to get there, refusing to accept any 'help' from her ambassador mother. Finally, he managed to find his voice.

"Well, I'm happy for you two. And as far as your resignation goes Emily, I will not be accepting it. You are two of the best profilers the BAU has, and I am not willing to break up this team over something as trivial as a no dating policy. If someone has a problem with the two of you dating, they will have me to deal with" Hotch told the women. Emily let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding, and J.J had to fight back tears of happiness.

"Thank you sir" the blonde told her boss with a smile, finding her voice for the first time since she had entered the office. The man returned the smile.

"There's no need to thank me. Anyone with the smallest bit of common sense could see that breaking up this team would be a truly terrible idea. So long as you two can keep it professional when you're on the job, then I don't see there being any problem." Hotch paused as Emily and J.J laughed quietly. "Now if you don't mind, I have some work to get back to" the man told the women. They nodded and moved to walk out of the office, J.J following Emily, when the man's voice stopped her.

"Oh, and J.J?" he said. The blonde nodded to her girlfriend, telling her that she would see her in a minute as she walked back into her boss' office.

"Yes sir?" J.J asked. The man smiled.

"Hold on to that one. There's not many people in the world who are willing to give up everything in order to be with the person they love" Hotch told her. Tears sprang to the corners of her eyes at her boss' confession. Wiping away a stray tear, the blonde smiled.

"I will, sir" she told him affirmatively, walking out of his office in search of her girlfriend.

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! You will actually have to wait a while for the next chapter though, because I'm going to be super busy in the next couple of weeks. Thank you for sticking with me through this series. It means the world to me, seriously. So please review and let me know what you think! Love you all!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm back! Thank you for all of the well wishes on my move. It went fairly well, and I'm all settled down here now. Florida is so much better than Canada by the way. As well, thank you so much for being so patient with me. I worked really hard to get this chapter just right, so I hope you like it. And thank you all so much for all of the follows, favorites and reviews! I've been over the moon with all of the love sent my way. So, I've rambled enough now. Please read, review, and enjoy chapter 3 of Blackbird!

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"That went a lot better than I thought it would" Emily said as J.J shut her boss' door behind her, tears in her eyes. Emily noticed the tears and her smile immediately disappeared. "Darling, what's wrong?" she asked her girlfriend, pulling her into the empty conference room and shutting the door. J.J smiled through her tears.

"It feels so good to finally be honest" she said with a small laugh. Her girlfriend mirrored her smile.

"Oh love, I'm so glad you think that way" Emily told the blonde, kissing her quickly on the lips. "Do you want to tell anyone else today? Hotch will keep it to himself if we ask him to" the brunette asked. J.J shook her head.

"I'd like to tell Pen. I feel bad that we've kept this from her for so long" the blonde said as she wiped away the rest of her tears. Emily smiled gently.

"Then we'll tell Penelope. Would you mind if I told Morgan? I mean, once you tell Pen she's bound to tell the rest of the BAU. God knows that woman can't keep gossip a secret even if her life depended on it" she said with a laugh. J.J laughed too.

"Then I'll tell Pen and you can tell Morgan" the blonde said, walking towards the door. Emily's voice stopped her, her hand on the doorknob.

"Hey J.J?" the brunette asked.

"Yeah Emily?" J.J asked her girlfriend, turning around to face her.

"I love you. And Pen will too, even after you tell her" Emily said softly, offering the blonde some comfort for what she was about to do. J.J nodded her head, smiling softly.

"I know" she said, walking out of the conference room. She strode through the still-empty bullpen and down the hallway to her best friend's office (or lair, as they had oh-so-affectionately christened it). Pausing out front of Garcia's door, the blonde FBI agent took a minute to compose herself for what she was about to do. With a deep breath, she knocked three times on the wooden door, waiting for the analyst to answer.

"Who beckons?" Garcia called from the other side of the door. J.J smiled at the woman's antics.

"It's me Pen" the agent told her friend.

"Come in my darling!" Garcia told J.J. A minute later, the door opened and J.J walked in, closing the door behind her. Garcia, who was still facing her computer, spun around and looked at her visitor. "I was just about to come find you actually. I've got two tickets for...dear God J.J! Did your neck get into a fight with a vacuum?" the colorful woman asked, standing up from her seat and moving closer to the other blonde to get a better look at the large mark on J.J's neck that had been unsuccessfully hidden with foundation and the collar of the woman's blouse.

"No..." J.J said slowly, a confused look on her face.

"Have you been seeing someone behind my back sunshine? Well, come sit down and tell Aunty Pen all about this new hunk I'm most certain you have. And don't leave out any details on how you got that hickey over there" Penelope said as she sat back down, patting the chair that was next to her.

"Jesus Pen, take a breath once in a while" J.J said with a laugh, sitting down in the black wheely chair.

"Oh, pish posh Jareau. Now tell me, who is this hunk that you've been seeing behind my back? Please tell me that it's someone that I'm going to want to fight you for" Garcia said eagerly, leaning in close to her friend. J.J took a deep breath. She couldn't believe what she was about to do. Had you told the blonde two months ago that one day she would be sitting in Penelope Garcia's office, about to confess that she was dating her best friend, why, she probably would have locked you up for the mere suggestion. But yet, here she was. Sitting in Penelope's office, about to tell her that she'd been dating Emily for a month.

"No, I don't think you'll want to fight me for her" J.J said quietly, hoping that the blonde analyst had missed that last part. Unfortunately, she hadn't.

"Oh please, there's no way that you would date anyone less than...wait, did you say...her?" Garcia exclaimed as she realized what her friend had just told her. Her eyes lit up excitedly. "You're saying that a woman gave you that Guinness World Record breaking hickey? Oh, now you absolutely _have_ to spill. Who is she?" she asked, leaning in even closer to J.J. The former liaison sighed, smiling sheepishly.

"Pen...Emily and I've been dating for the past month" she confessed quietly. Garcia's eyes almost bulged out of her head as she took in the news. She couldn't believe what J.J had just told her. She had to be joking.

"I...you...I..." she stuttered, causing J.J to laugh at the fact that she had managed to silence the ever so talkative Penelope Garcia. Someone should have called Guinness World Records for _that_ achievement.

"Words would be preferred, Pen" J.J laughed. Garcia's face lit up so brightly that it was like someone had mixed the fourth of July and the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza together. The technical analyst jumped up from her seat, throwing her arms around the other woman.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?! I'm so happy for you two!" she all but screeched. J.J laughed, hugging the blonde woman back. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" the blonde woman asked excitedly as she sat back down.

"We wanted to keep it a secret for a while to see where it went. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner" J.J apologized, hanging her head. Garcia laughed.

"Oh, there's no need to apologize to me my sweets, I get it. Now spill. How did this happen? I want details" she said eagerly, leaning forward in her seat. J.J smiled, blushing slightly.

"Well, the night that we were at Rossi's house playing that 20 questions game...after everyone went to bed that night, Emily and I went and sat at the end of the dock. I asked her if something was wrong, cause she was acting really weird...and she kissed me" J.J paused as the blonde woman squealed. "And then she got all freaked out and tried to leave, but I told her to stay. Emily started on this big speech about how she was sorry, but she had to tell me and that she hadn't told me sooner 'cause I was married to Will, and the only way I could get her to shut up was for me to kiss her" she paused again as Garcia let out an even louder squeal, clapping her hands together excitedly. "And then she said she wanted me to do that for a really long time, and I kissed her again and told her to ask me on a date and see what happens" J.J explained.

"And?" Garcia asked hopefully. J.J laughed with a roll of her eyes.

"She asked me on a date...and I said yes" she concluded, her smile a mile wide. Garcia did a happy dance in her seat.

"I'm so happy for you two! I can't believe this finally happened!" the technical analyst squealed happily, causing J.J to laugh again. The blonde agent couldn't help but smile to herself at how well this had gone with her team members. She felt like maybe things were going to be okay after all.

* * *

"Hey Prentiss" Morgan said as he walked into the bullpen about ten minutes after Emily and J.J had left the conference room.

"Morning Derek" Emily said, watching him put his bag under his desk. "Can I talk to you in private for a minute?" she asked her friend quietly. Derek looked at her, concerned as to what was going on. He nodded his head however, and followed the raven haired woman into the conference room that she and her girlfriend had used just moments earlier.

"What's up Princess?" the man asked, sitting down on the edge of the table. Emily drew in a breath and let it out slowly, raking a hand through her hair.

"J.J and I have been dating for almost a month" she said quietly, a wide grin spread across her face. Morgan's jaw dropped, and then he broke into a smile too.

"Damn Em! I can't believe you finally got the girl!" he said happily, hugging his friend. Emily laughed against his chest.

"I can't believe it either" she said, a giddy grin on her face.

"When did this happen?" Morgan asked as he let go of the brunette woman. Emily tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"That night that we were playing 20 questions out at Rossi's. I finally told her...and she told me she liked me too" she told her best friend. The man smiled again, squeezing Emily's hand.

"Well I'm happy for you two. You both deserve to be happy" he told the woman.

"Thank you Derek" Emily said quietly, a tear in her eye. They were interrupted by a knock on the door. A second later, Blake stuck her head in the room.

"Hey guys...I'm really sorry to interrupt, but we've got a case. Hotch needs us in the other conference room" she said quietly. The two agents nodded, Morgan smiling one last time at his friend as he walked out of the room. Emily hung back for a moment with Blake.

"I take it you told him about you and J.J" Blake said, leaning against the door frame with an all-knowing smile on her face. Emily nodded.

"I did" she said cryptically.

"And?" Alex asked, holding her hand out in front of her in a gesture that reminded Emily of herself.

"I've never seen him smile so big" the raven haired woman told the other woman, a smile breaking through. Alex mirrored the grin.

"That's great! I'm happy you two decided you're ready to tell the team. Do the others know, or am I keeping this to myself still?" the older woman asked quietly.

"Well, we told Hotch this morning, and as far as I know Jennifer is telling Garcia right now" Emily told her. Alex raised an eyebrow.

"What did Hotch say? If you don't mind me asking..." she asked, stepping closer to the raven haired woman.

"Well J.J was too nervous to do any talking, and so I told him that we were dating. And then I told him that I would like to hand in my resignation because I know the department's policy on coworkers dating, so long as J.J could still have her job" she began, sitting down on the edge of the table. Alex's eyes grew wide.

"Emily..." she said, her voice low. She was worried that the raven haired woman had just announced her resignation from the Bureau. If she had, well, she wasn't going to let this go without a fight. Emily laughed slightly, raising a hand to stop the older woman's assumptions.

"Then he said that he wouldn't take my resignation because he didn't want to break up the team over the no dating policy. And then he said...he said that if anyone had a problem with us dating then they'd have to go through him" she said, the last part noticeably quieter than the rest of her statement. Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes, and she wiped them away quickly. Blake, not liking that her new friend was upset, did the only thing she could think of to console her. She closed the distance between the two of them and wrapped her arms around Emily, hugging her tightly.

"I'm so happy for you Emily" Alex whispered in her ear. Emily smiled, pulling away from the older woman.

"Thank you Alex. For everything" the raven haired beauty said quietly, wiping away the rest of her tears.

"No problem. Now, go clean up and hurry over to the conference room before Hotch has a legitimate reason to fire us" Blake said jokingly. With a laugh, and final smile towards the older woman, Emily strode out of the conference room to go fix her makeup.

* * *

"Denver, Colorado. Eight abductions in the last two months" J.J said, turning the television screen on behind her. "All of the victims were children between the ages of 6 and 10. Five boys, and three girls. All were abducted from day cares. When the classes were outside playing, the teacher would turn their back, and a minute later a child would be missing" the blonde woman continued, eight pictures of children appearing on the screen.

"The children that were abducted were Jackson Taylor age 8, Michael Noland age 6, Harrison Kirkland age 10, David Whitaker age 9, Billy McDonald age 6, Olivia Black age 8, Meredith Jacobs age 7 and Beth Richards age 9. All of the children's bodies were found two weeks after their abductions in various ditches on the sides of roads throughout the city. There was evidence of sexual assault, and they were physically abused as well. Cause of death was manual strangulation." J.J continued, showing pictures of seven children's bodies lying on the silver tables of the morgue.

"Where is the eighth child?" Reid asked, seeing that a picture was missing.

"Jackson Taylor is still missing. He was abducted a week ago from Sunny Side Daycare in south Denver" J.J explained, showing the rest of the team a school picture of a brown haired, blue eyed boy.

"Are we thinking this is only one unsub, or are there multiple?" Blake asked.

"The Denver police department think that this is the work of two men at least, as it would be incredibly difficult to abduct a child from a day care in such a short span of time and get away with it by yourself" J.J answered.

"We can work on a better profile when we are on the plane. We have a long ride and a short deadline ahead of us. Wheels up in thirty" Hotch told the team, standing up from the table and striding out of the room to get his go bag. The rest of the team stood up to follow their boss' lead when Emily stopped Reid.

"Spence, can we talk to you for a second?" she asked, J.J stopping too. Reid nodded. Garcia, Morgan and Alex smiled knowingly as they left the room, Morgan shutting the door behind them.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Reid asked, sitting down in the chair at the end of the table.

"We're fine Spence. Actually, we just wanted to talk to you about something" Emily told the man, sitting down next to her girlfriend. Reid raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean we?" he asked curiously. J.J smiled, reaching over and taking a hold of her girlfriend's hand.

"Spencer, Emily and I have been dating for about a month" the blonde said quietly. Reid looked at the women's joint hands.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. Emily frowned.

"We wanted to keep it a secret until we knew that it was going to work out. I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner" she apologized, letting go of J.J's hand.

"It's alright. I'm just glad that you two are happy" Reid said with a smile. J.J got up and hugged the man.

"That means a lot Reid, thank you" she told him, letting go as someone knocked on the door. Morgan stuck his head into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, but if we don't get going Hotch is going to have our heads on a silver platter" the man said, ducking back out of the room as the three agents followed him into the bullpen. As they were walking, Emily and J.J couldn't help but smile at one another. They had finally done it. They had told their team about their relationship, and now they didn't have to live their life in hiding. Emily thought that this just might be the sunshine in their normally rainy and depressing day of hunting down their kiddie killer.

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. I'm actually really happy with how it turned out, and I hope you are too! I'm not sure when the next chapter will be posted, but most likely not for a week or two. I'm about to start school again, and all my courses are AP and Honors, so my life is about to get very hectic. But anyways, please leave a review and let me know your thoughts on this chapter and the future! Love you all!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thank you all for being so patient with me! School has been absolutely crazy for the past two weeks and I haven't had the time to sit down and write until now. So I'm not going to ramble much here, as I'm sure you are all really anxious to find out what happens next. Please read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

"You called me, oh wise one?" Garcia asked, popping up on the computer screen of the BAU's jet. The team smiled at the analyst.

"We were just about to start a basic profile" Hotch told the blonde woman. Garcia grabbed her fluffy pink pen and tapped the end of it on a note pad in front of her.

"Well then I am ready when you are sir" the technical analyst said, pushing her glasses up on the bridge of her nose.

"Okay, so there's probably two unsubs. Both male, both strong enough to subdue a screaming 10 year old" Morgan started, glancing down at the file in front of him.

"Clearly they are both sadists that get off on raping and murdering little kids" Emily added, her stomach churning at the sight of the kids lying dead on the morgue's silver tables. She glanced over at her girlfriend who was sitting next to her at the table, and wasn't too surprised to find that her facial expression matched that of her own.

"One of the unsubs probably likes girls and the other one probably likes boys, seeing as they've taken both genders" J.J said, forcing herself to look away from the pictures in front of her. The rest of the team nodded.

"I'd say that the more dominant partner has the affliction for boys, because they've taken five boys but only three girls" Reid said. Garcia jotted something down onto her notepad.

"We're probably looking for someone who works with children, so I need you to run all of the kids names and see if any men pop up in more than one of their backgrounds Garcia" Hotch told the blonde. Garcia nodded, scribbling furiously on her paper.

"That will take all day, but I will get you that information boss man. Anything else you need?" she asked, holding the fluffy pink pen by her face. Hotch shook his head.

"That's it for now" he said. Garcia nodded, smiling.

"Alright then. Be safe my loves. Garcia out" she said, hitting a button on her keyboard. The screen on the wall went black and Hotch turned to his team.

"Well, that's it until we land. I suggest you all get some sleep now because we need to hit the ground running. Time is ticking and we need to find Jackson before these bastards can do any more damage than they already have" the man told his team, walking over to the couch and taking a seat next to Rossi, who was already on his way to dream land.

"I guess we should try and get some sleep" Alex said from her spot next to Morgan. J.J nodded at the woman who sat across from her, shifting closer to her girlfriend. Emily wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulders.

"Sounds like a good idea to me" the raven haired woman said, placing a kiss on the blonde's head and letting her eyes fall shut.

* * *

The team didn't stop running from the time their feet made contact with the Denver International Airport runway until it was almost two in the morning. They had spent the majority of the afternoon and evening interviewing the families of the victims, as well as the teachers and some of the other students from the daycares that they had attended.

Garcia's results had come in around midnight, and she had found that three men kept showing up in almost all of the children's backgrounds. Melvin Thomas, a local pediatrician, Patrick Rodgers, the head of the cleaning company hired to clean over half of the daycares, and Nick Gibson, a substitute teacher that had filled in at all but two of the victim's daycares.

Hotch had sent the team back to the hotel around 1:30 in the morning, after J.J had almost fallen asleep on their files as they were attempting to look into the backgrounds of their suspects. The blonde had argued that she was fine, but all Hotch did was roll his eyes and send them packing.

"I feel like I was run over by a bus" Emily groaned as she slid the key card into her and her girlfriend's hotel room. J.J groaned in agreement, all but falling into the queen sized bed. She was so tired that she hadn't bothered to take off any of her clothes, save for her shoes which sat by the door.

"My head feels like it's full of rocks" the blonde moaned, placing a hand over her eyes to shield them from the harsh light.

"Well, I suggest you at least change your clothes. I don't think you'll be too happy in the morning if you wake up in your jeans and blouse" Emily told her girlfriend as she shut and locked the heavy door.

"It is the morning" J.J groaned from underneath her arm. The brunette just snorted.

"Smart ass" Emily said with a smile.

"I heard that" J.J said, not even bothering to move.

"You were meant to darling" Emily told her girlfriend, pulling her t-shirt off over her head. When she got the constricting fabric off of her head, she couldn't help but notice how the woman on the bed was starring at her.

"See something you like?" Emily asked, her voice low. J.J smiled, but then put her head back down on the bed.

"I'm too tired to see anything" she mumbled, wiggling her way out of her jeans and letting them fall to the floor. "But yes" the blonde added, all but rolling off the bed and walking over to her go bag. She fished a pair of short pink shorts and a grey tank top out of the black bag and pulled them on quickly as Emily climbed into bed. J.J shut off the over head light and made her way through the dark to where her girlfriend lay, waiting.

As the blonde sank back into the pillows, Emily leaned over and placed a gentle kiss to J.J's temple, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman's waist.

"Goodnight Em" J.J whispered, wiggling in closer to her girlfriend's warm side.

"Goodnight my love" Emily whispered back, placing another kiss to the blonde's head as her eyes slowly fell shut, the weight of the day dragging her into a deep sleep.

* * *

Emily's alarm on her phone ringing at eight that morning elicited a loud groan from J.J's throat. The blonde was curled up into her girlfriend's side, her head resting on the older woman's shoulder.

"It's too early" she groaned. Emily groaned in agreement, reaching over to the nightstand and turning the alarm off.

"I know, but if we don't get up we'll be the last ones to the precinct and I really don't want to deal with Morgan's comments about what we did or did not do last night" the brunette said, easing herself from her girlfriend's grasp and sitting up. She stood up as J.J grabbed her hand.

"What, no good morning kiss?" the blonde asked, finally opening her eyes. Emily laughed, leaning down over her girlfriend and capturing her lips with her own. She pulled away much too soon for the blonde's liking however, and she grumbled her disappointment as Emily walked over to her go bag and started getting dressed.

"Oh, just get ready Miss Grumpy Pants. And maybe if you're lucky you'll get another kiss before we leave. Which is in..." she paused, checking the watch on her wrist. "Ten minutes. So get dressed" the brunette told her girlfriend, throwing the blonde's blouse and jeans at her. J.J ducked as they sailed at her head.

"You're the worst girlfriend ever" J.J said with a huff, tossing back the blankets and getting dressed. The two women finished getting ready in a comfortable silence, and not even ten minutes later the two were on the way out the door.

"I thought you said I'd get another kiss" J.J whined as Emily walked out the door. The brunette turned around to face her girlfriend, a sly look on her face.

"And I thought you said that I was the worst girlfriend ever. I doubt that the worst girlfriend ever would give her girlfriend another kiss, now would they?" Emily asked, pulling the door shut behind her. She laughed at the blonde's pouty face. The older woman decided to take pity on her girlfriend however, and she leaned in, placing a quick kiss on the blonde's lips. "Better?" the brunette asked. J.J nodded.

"Much" she said, following her girlfriend down the hall.

* * *

"I come bearing gifts" Morgan said, walking into the Denver precinct. The team turned to face the man, their faces lighting up as they saw that he had two trays of coffee in his hands.

"I love you Derek" J.J exclaimed as she grabbed a coffee from the tray. Emily rolled her eyes at how easy the woman was.

"Doesn't everyone?" the FBI agent said, a cheeky grin spreading across his face as he handed a coffee to Emily.

"Watch yourself Morgan. You know I'm not above hurting you" the raven haired woman threatened. Morgan let out a laugh as Hotch walked into the room.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm shaking in my boots over here Prentiss" the man taunted his friend, jumping out of the way of a poorly aimed punch.

"Children" Hotch said, clearing his throat. The team stopped their friendly banter and turned to face their boss. "I want Reid and J.J to go talk to Melvin Thomas. Morgan, you need to go talk to Patrick Rodgers, see what he knows. And Blake, you and Prentiss are going to go talk to Gibson. Rossi and I are going to talk to Jackson's parents again, see if they can remember any of the suspects making contact. As well, be on the lookout for anything strange while you're out there today; if these people follow their schedule, another kid is going to taken today. We've already called the daycares and told them to keep their students inside for the foreseeable future, but let's make sure that doesn't happen" Hotch told his team. The agents nodded, grabbing their things and heading towards the doors. J.J fell in line next to Emily and leaned close to her girlfriend's ear.

"Be safe Em" the younger woman told her quietly, squeezing her hand quickly.

"You too Jayje" the brunette told her girlfriend, following Alex towards one of the SUV's parked outside of the police station.

* * *

"Well that was a waste of time" Alex said as she and Emily walked down the steps of Nick Gibson's house not an hour later.

"You're telling me. There's no way this guy is involved. Practically threw up when we told him about the kids" the dark haired woman added as she got in behind the wheel of the SUV. Alex nodded her agreement.

"I wonder if the others had any luck" the woman mused, mainly to herself. Emily shrugged as she pulled away from the curb and into the morning traffic. The two drove in silence for a few minutes, until Emily broke it.

"Can I ask you a question Alex?" she asked quietly.

"Of course" Alex said with a warm smile. Emily sighed.

"Why were you so...willing to accept everything you learned about me? You learned a secret that I had kept from my best friend for years on your first day at the BAU. You didn't even know me" she asked the other woman. The question had been floating around in her head for the past couple of days, after realizing that Alex had just accepted everything that had been thrown at her on her first day of work.

"Because it didn't matter to me. I didn't care that you liked women; you seemed like a good person...which you are by the way" Blake said with a warm smile, pausing as Emily let out a little chuckle. "And anyways; it was a pretty good first day if I do say so myself. Plus, you and J.J could challenge Will and Kate for cutest couple" she added, both of the women laughing.

"Thanks" Emily said softly. Alex laid a reassuring hand on the woman's arm, giving it a light squeeze.

"So...how are things between you and J.J?" she asked her new friend nonchalantly. Emily eyed the older woman out of the corner of her eye.

"They're really good...why?" she asked, confused as to where the question had come from.

"Oh, no reason" Blake said innocently. Emily turned her eyes back to the road.

"Did you talk to Morgan?" the raven haired woman asked. Alex adverted her eyes.

"I never said that" she said, an underlying giddiness in her voice. Emily rolled her eyes as Alex's phone vibrated in the cup holder.

"He keeps spreading rumors about us, I'm going to kill that man one day." Emily threatened. The other woman laughed as she picked up the phone.

"Blake" she said. "Wait, what? How... Okay, okay. We're on our way right now" Alex said, hanging up the phone and running a hand through her hair.

"What?" Emily asked, stopping at a red light.

"Two more kids were just taken. Hotch wants us back at the precinct yesterday" Blake told her. The other woman's eye opened wide.

"How the hell did two kids get taken? I thought all of the day cares were supposed to keep their kids inside!" Emily exclaimed as she turned the sirens on, something she rarely did.

"I don't know. But we need to find these bastards fast." Alex said, holding on tighter to the door handle as Emily began to speed through the traffic on her way to the precinct.

* * *

"We got back as soon as we could" Emily said, walking up behind Morgan, Reid and J.J. Her girlfriend smiled sadly when she saw the brunette, Emily returning the smile.

"I'm surprised we got back in one piece. I thought I was going to die" Alex said, earning her a light shove on the arm from the woman who had driven like a bat out of hell through the streets of Denver on her way back to the precinct. Hotch and Rossi stepped up to the front of the room, and the people fell quiet.

"Two little girls were just taken from Delta Chi Day Care Center. Amelia and Isabella Lombardo. They're twin four year old girls with curly, light blonde hair and blue eyes. They're about three feet tall and weigh roughly 40 pounds. Both of them were wearing blue jeans and pink t-shirts, with white and pink running shoes. They were last seen at ten o'clock in the morning when their teacher, Jillian Fredrick, took her class outside to play on the playground. Apparently she has been off sick for the past three days and never had the message relayed to her to keep the children inside" Rossi explained.

"I want uniforms to patrol the neighborhood. Knock on doors, look in alleys and backyards. See if anyone saw these two girls being taken" Hotch ordered. "As well, be on the look out for a white van with blacked out windows. An anonymous tip that was called in this morning said that they saw the van hanging around the daycare when kids were being dropped off" he added.

"And don't forget that we are also looking for Jackson Taylor. We have reason to believe that the boy is still alive and is currently being held captive and abused by two men. If you see anything suspicious, let us know" Rossi said as the uniformed police officers dispersed. The two FBI agents made their way over to their team.

"Four year olds? They're getting younger and younger" J.J said, shaking her head in disgust.

"We think that they may have been alerted of our presence, panicked and taken whichever children they could get their hands on." Hotch told his team.

"What did you find with the suspects?" Rossi asked.

"There's no way Gibson is involved. He almost got physically sick when he found out about what the children had gone through" Emily told him.

"Patrick Rodgers checks out too. I really doubt he had anything to do with these kidnappings. He didn't display any signs of a pedophile" Morgan said.

"Melvin Thomas wasn't at his office, and so we checked his house but he wasn't there either" J.J told her boss. All of the agents minds started reeling. Hotch pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit number one on speed dial.

"Garcia's wealth of knowledge. How may I help you today?" the perky blonde woman asked.

"Garcia, I need you to run Melvin Thomas" Hotch said seriously. Garcia's fingers began flying over her keyboard as she typed the name Melvin Thomas into all of her databases.

"I will have any dirt on this man back to you in flash sir" the woman told her boss. Hotch nodded.

"Thanks Garcia" he said, hanging up the phone and turning to his team. "Alright. I want Prentiss, Morgan, Reid and Blake to go to the day care and talk to the students and teachers. See if they saw anything. J.J, I need you to prepare for a press conference. We need to get these girls faces on the news. Rossi and I will talk to Amelia and Isabella's parents. I'll let you know when we hear something from Garcia" Hotch told his team. They nodded, Morgan grabbing his keys as they walked out the precinct doors and towards their black SUV. Emily only had one thought in her mind as she climbed into the passenger seat next to Morgan; they needed to find these kids. And they needed to do it fast.

* * *

A/N: I hope you enjoyed chapter 4! This case will most likely be wrapping up in a few chapters and they will be going back to DC to deal with Will and everything there. I plan on this story being more about Emily and J.J than about cases, so this might be the only one that actually goes into detail. As always, please feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for things you'd like to see in upcoming chapters! I'll try and incorporate as many as I can! Hopefully I will be posting chapter 5 next week, so stick around and see what's going to happen with Jackson, Amelia and Isabella! Love you all to pieces.


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